Castaway ‘suffering from post-traumatic stress’
Print Edition
A CASTAWAY who says he survived 13 months adrift in the Pacific appears to be suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome, a doctor said yesterday, as officials confirmed he had been living in Mexico illegally.
Jose Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman from El Salvador, washed up on a remote Pacific atoll over a week ago, telling a remarkable story of floating 12,500 kilometers from Mexico in his 24-foot boat after the engine broke.
He initially appeared to be in good spirits and reasonable health, but he has been in and out of hospital since being brought to the Marshall Islands capital Majuro last Monday.
At a media conference on Thursday, the 37-year-old was sullen, mumbling a short thank-you to people in the Marshalls before departing the venue clutching two men for support.
Franklyn House, a retired American doctor working with the California-based Canvasback Missions group in the Marshall Islands, has observed and spoken with Alvarenga several times since his arrival, although he is not the attending physician.
House said he believes Alvarenga is suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome because of his demeanor.
“The first couple of days he was in the hospital, he was engaged and normal,” House said. “Thursday he showed signs of post-traumatic stress.”
A diplomat from El Salvador’s embassy in Japan, Diego Dalton, met with the castaway and “confirmed that the health of Mr Alvarenga is broken,” the country’s foreign ministry said. “His physical condition has to improve for him to begin the return trip,” it added.
Manila-based Mexican diplomat Christian Clay Mendez said Alvarenga had been in Mexico illegally for 15 years, which is why he would return to El Salvador.
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